President Trump and First Lady Melania stopped at Ramstein Air Base in Germany en-route back to Washington DC. The president took the opportunity to talk directly with key military generals and leaders aboard Air Force-One:

212 Responses to President Trump and First Lady Melania Visit Ramstein Air Base, in Germany…

Pres. Trump, first lady Melania Trump pose for pictures with U.S. troops in Ramstein, Germany, following earlier visit to al-Asad airbase in Iraq – his first visit to an overseas military installation. https://t.co/BCo9FW7KYJpic.twitter.com/F8YofdE6AJ

Excellent post, kea. There are readers here that enjoy seeing pictures of the fashionable clothing belonging, to the ~beautiful First Lady of the USA. … There’s a picture in your links, where the First Lady is wearing~Stylish Black Tennis Shoes. (It’s the link with the word ~Shoes under it.) ….. Plus, I saw a picture elsewhere, where it appeared the First Lady of the USA was wearing tan hiking boots. The boots didn’t look like Military Combat-Boots.

It’s good to know, that our ~beautiful First Lady may said to her husband, ‘Let’s take a trip, where I can wear some comfortable shoes.’
It’s taught in Church, ‘Preparation for Marriage Courses’ ~ The wife wants to hear from her husband these words: “Yes Dear!, with follow through!”
May God Bless our President, his family, and May God Bless America!

I actually hate those shoes on adults. ‘Never take your fashion lead from 14 year old skate borders. However, POTUS is the only adult that makes these things look good. Every time I see her, she takes my breath away…They are such an amazing couple.

I have to disagree with you respectfully. I like the shoes and don’t think once one turns a certain age clothing, shoes should be off limits. It’s what one likes and feels comfortable in. Thank goodness most adults don’t care what others think about them or their style choices. That’s the beauty of getting older I suppose, you just don’t care. Happy Holidays and a blessed and successful New Year!

What always impresses me is the eagerness of our military men and women wanting to be close to our President and those selfies with him. They respect and love our President because he has shown them they are valued! FLOTUS is just whipped cream for any visit.

Subsequent to my original comment to kea, I’ve seen on the Internet, how the Fake New is ‘mocking’ the beautiful First Lady for wearing Timberland Hiking boots. The articles seem to indicate, she has used them previously. … The Fake News has no mercy. = The Fake News has brain wave problems.
If the beautiful First Lady of the USA discovered a universal and inexpensive cure for cancer, the Fake News would still ‘mock’ her for something. = ‘She wears tan boots with a white lab coat!

And therein lies the portion of that military mind-set that is so dangerous – that proportion of professionals who will follow any directive from POTUS, or in particular members of his staff, no matter how openly ridiculous or nonsensical – or dangerous. If these guys would do this, what other nonsensical commands might they obey?

Oh, and before anyone raises the hue and cry – I was raised by a combat vet; I spent time in the US military; my son is a combat vet in a bad way due to his service in a combat zone.

Red shoes mean something too; not sure what, but connected to Podesta, pedophiles, satanists and Popes… One can only guess the level of sickness of the individual/group that came up with this, especially if it was meant to humiliate our brave service members.

It was a “walk a mile in her shoes”(TM) stunt to let “mens” understand what “womerns” go through in life. I think they did short hash runs in red pumps.

It’s the kind of “feelings” and “awareness” pap that’s rampant in the corporate world, I guess “management” is the common denominator, whether private sector or military.

There are consultants who are brought in to give these seminars and exercises and they rake in a ton of dough having people close their eyes and fall backward and see if their co-workers will catch them.

That and droning, droning lectures about diversity and womerns in the workplace(TM), and all sorts of human resources department stuff that just drones on and on and is just trite and useless.

I worked in a science agency and we’d have human resources presentations prodding and prodding that “don’t you think there should be 50% women in your profession since women make up 50% (actually more) of the population?

Uh … no.

Women didn’t study for science professions at a 50% ratio. They were in dance and drama classes, if I’d taken more of those and less science and differential equations I’d probably have gotten way more skirt in college.

But yeah, if you’ve ever had to sit thru these kinds of human resources dirges you know what I’m talking about.

They’re really big with upper management, your supervisors go off to these well-fed retreats and conventions at the Radisson and lap up these presentations in conference rooms.

“Ok, let’s break up into small groups for the next exercise … yada yada”

Sounds just like the Propaganda – er – Mandatory Mis-edu-cama-cation Teacher training Seminars where a$$wipes in desperate need to justify their paychecks develop the most cringe-worthy sensitivity/diversity topics imaginable – like the ones you cited.

Bureaucracy is the same everywhere – whether it’s in the DMV where tenured personnel work at the pace of molasses or deep in the bowels of the DS where requests for FOIA info can take decades if it’s the wrong info requested by the wrong people.

There is also a cya component to the training. Most big orgs have agreements with insurance to mediate and settle complaints. One way the org mitigates the damage is proving employees have been trained in diversity, gender, etc. it’s a huge business. Big money.

Well, there’s your problem, Nim. Science and logic are the antithesis of thinking that putting on a pair of shoes magically enlightens and conveys someone else’s larger life experience. If we employ the hypothesis of “Experience Transference by Shoe”, we can put on a pair of combat boots and know what it was like to storm the beach at Normandy on D-Day or experience the cold wetness permeating disintegrated boots and the stiff, icy rag-foot coverings at Valley Forge.

I’m kind of sorry the exercise doesn’t work. Experiencing the combat boots’ “mile” would do a world of good for people who have the time and resources to wallow in extreme silliness, courtesy, in large part, of the combat boot that protects their freedom from collectively living in a poverty-stricken country, under a tyrannical government that allows them no possession of resources or choice, but to devote every second of their lives to serving their “betters”, while trying to produce, by their own hands, the barest of necessities to merely survive.

IOW, the people who think this junk up are spoiled, arrogant, ignorant, self-centered, soft, perfumed ingrates with too much time on their hands and plentiful resources to wear expensive leather shoes, of their choice, on their feet. It’s hard to get much dumber, but these people are devoted to the effort.

I worked at a major research university in the Silicon Valley, CA. for 28 years. Our HR department organized training sessions, sensitivity workshops and all kinds of panel meetings of which I don’t remember the titles, but it was always for a cause du jour. Participation was mandatory. I was the lone employee refusing to take part in the fall backward and be caught exercise. Fortunately I had the support of a reasonable boss. The diversity panels usually failed to include a Caucasian member.

“and we’d have human resources presentations ”
There’s scene in “The Natural” when the team is not hitting and they bring in a quakeadoole shilling some mind f consultant and the the Redford character says” I’m not putting up with this carny crap”….there you have it

My husband was in Vietnam 1970-72 (drafted). When he was coming home, they told them NOT to wear their uniforms. It was a hard couple years because no one wanted to hire a Vietnam vet…they were crazy people, baby killers, druggies, etc etc. I am so very proud that our POTUS recognizes the commitment of our military and law enforcement.

nimrod, it was horrible how they were treated and for a long time. On the other hand my brother was in the Korean conflict (Congress members like to come up with names to wars which wind up killing our military) and when he came home no nastiness but he did suffer from what we now call PTSD which ruined his marriage but he did live until age 75 having slowly but surely gotten back to calmness and caring.

I returned from Vietnam in July ’72.
My family was waiting for me when I arrived, some woman ran beside me with a fresh load in a pampers and flung it up side my head. Quite a mess to wipe up.
We were very quiet about my service for years.
Now I am stepping up to every Vet wearing a hat to thank them for their service.

To this day, I can always tell who REALLY fought in
Vietnam. For awhile in the mid 80s, there were some
nuts running around claiming false valor for being there.

Would go on endlessly about battles fought, and where.
The biggest offender among these jerks outed himself
by describing in detail the lake where my family had a
summer place. Went into long detail, and was wrong in
every aspect. Had 18 years worth of memories to refute
him.

The ones that went to Vietnam NEVER talk about it.
Except if they run into someone else that was there. Then
they go off into a corner and talk. Kaste668 and
eagledriver can correct me on this one if I’m wrong.

Precisely! Try as they will, the MSM cannot successfully diminish all those happy faces. We see it, clearly. How awesome is this, first Iraq and then Ramstein. Very happy surprises and what a day! Proud to be an Always Trumper.

So that is why that story about bone spurs is suddenly in the news! So transparently desperate!!

I was amazed that the daughters of the doctor, in their frantic zeal to get Trunp, did not grasp that they had FOEVER tarnished the reputation of their own father by pointing out his glaring lack of integrity.

Lee, Trump’s problems were real and thus denied military service. On the other hand they never said anything about Bill Clinton’s 5 times ducking the service and he had no physical problems (except for one and we all know that is). We have been blessed to have Trump and Melania as down to earth, caring, and actually showing those caring for not only the military but for all of us. Eisenhower, I liked, and Reagan was also very good, but with Trump he is down to earth and touchable.

I'll say it. We are living in the best timeline ever. We have not had a Potus that loves this Country as much as him in at least 150 years. Prove me wrong. He's showing it more and more everyday. And we're very.. very lucky to be alive during this time. Beautiful stuff, folks..

I can’t speak about anybody before Kennedy because honestly i’m just ignorant of it, but the only thing keeping most people from admitting President Trump is the greatest ever is their great admiration (and deservedly so) for Reagan. I think Reagan would have loved Trump though. Reagan had a fire in him like Trump’s, just a little less crass but no where near as effective and powerful as Trump either. I’ll take crass over ineffective any day.

You can’t get over the feeling practically all presidents since Herbert Hoover – with the exceptions of Eisenhower and Reagan – viewed the military with scorn, or at least suspicion, and very definitely as a very desirable prop to have in the background after being elected. Doesn’t matter what half of the Uniparty, they both did it. Kennedy, even though a combat vet himself, developed a suspicion of the military after the Bay of Pigs and then the Cuban Missile Crisis – viewed many of them as warmongers, helped along by Robert S. McNamara.

jbpwem82, and this I admire in Geo. W with his gatherings with military men every year. Honoring our military, and especially our current millitary who are ALL volunteers, is so needed by everyone. That they are willing to lose their lives and suffer horrible injuries always brings tears to my eyes.

I couldn’t have put thoughts to print, as the above did so well. We all are living in historical times where we are witnessing something so phenomenal and great. President Trump is out of this world, literally. What an incredible human with passion for his country and honour towards those that rightly deserve the recognition and respect. Long Live Trump!

It’s a SCIF… the MSM media has been harping lately that one thing they want to investigate is the conversations and Mara Lago… because it’s not a SCIF. Let’s face it the MSM is grasping at straws now. It’s a sad state the country is in because of this one sided media we’re living with…

It’s possible to transform any location into a SCIF, since there are published guidelines covering running of communications access to a hardened space, plus the basic construction of the facility, along with access controls – which can be built anywhere – and Trump has the money to finance one of these things anywhere he wants to have it. Or the gov can pay for it to be done. Point is, it’s more than possible to install a SCIF where there isn’t one now.

Was thinking about Trump’s first trip abroad right at the start of his presidency. The MSM drooled all over themselves while opining that he would have to take things more slowly and would need extra rest because he could not be expected to hold up under the strain of international travel.

I know the President doesn’t drink, but if he did, at least he and the troops could have some beers together there in Germany, unlike in Mohammedan Iraq and Afghanistan, without the native residents going jihad “insults to Mohammad” crazy.

I’d like to say outloud, that one of the JOYS of this presidency, is seeing a young, beautiful, intelligent, wholesome, and wonderful woman like Sarah Sanders get to take part in all of this alongside the President. She clearly enjoys every moment of it, and is having the time of her life meeting and seeing things that a country girl from Arkansas probably never thought she’d get to see.

POTUS generally seems to like to spend time with hard working people. My cousin, a NYC Construction Trades Electrician (Local 3, IBEW), met THE Donald a number of times on construction sites and was always impressed with how friendly he was and how knowledgeable Trump was about construction issues. He seems to have passed on that natural friendliness to his kids. I recently attended a wedding at a Trump Golf Course and Eric Trump slipped in to wish the bride and groom well. That is why his rallies work.

They say Charisma is the combination of power, and empathy. The Trumps are very powerful people, and everywhere they go they show empathy to people whether it’s just a pat on the back or a joking comment the President’s probably told 10,000 people. When someone that powerful just takes the second to NOTICE that you’re there, it’s incredibly charismatic, almost irresistible.

Every single person in the family is charismatic, down to Tiffany! Not sure about Barron yet he’s so private.

President Trump is so charismatic congressional Democrats refuse to even meet with him anymore. He’s almost irresistible in person, he can schmooze anybody. That’s why you’ve got losers like Trudeau and Macron who snuggle up to him in private, then wait to talk trash about him when he’s left the room. When they’re in his presence they can’t overcome his charisma.

Now that you mentioned Trudope can’t tolerate that creep, but his father Pierre was a lot like PDJT, fuddle duddle was his saying when pissed off, however very charismatic he was loved. Justine’s name got him elected to a YUGE disappointment. I did Not vote for him.

Pierre Trudeau was hated here in Alberta.
And he did not use the term “fuddle-duddle” when pissed off. He outright told an opposition member to “F##k Off” in The House of Commons and when questioned by reporters, charmingly lied that he used the term “fuddle-duddle.”
Communist POS was nothing like President Trump.

Air Force One is wheels up from Ramstein for last leg of flight back to DC from Iraq. It's a 4,043-mile flight. This was Pres Trump's 10th foreign trip. And Iraq is the 21st nation he's been to as president.

” It’s time for us to start using our head. We don’t want to be taken advantage of any more…
We’re spread out all over the world. We’re in countries that most people have never heard even about and.frankly, it’s ridiculous. That’s the story, it’s very simple.”

It’s good that Trump is making it known that several times he gave the generals 6 month extensions in Syria. Mattis and crew have tried their hardest to spin it that the President pulled out of Syria on the spur of the moment.

The media claiming that BHO visited military bases at Christmas is truly laughable. So what he stopped by the base in Hawaii while on vacay! POTUS never tried to claim a visit to military bases in FL as a “holiday visit”. Not to mention that Pres. Trump has been far better at visiting hurricane sites than BHO was.

Email the White House. Tell them about this Jennifer Epstein from Bloomberg News, who accompanied the President on Air Force One – on this trip to Iraq and Germany to visit our troops during Christmas week. Let them know that Miss Epstein posted photos of our soldiers on her social media pages – wearing MAGA hats and holding a Trump flag – so that her raid Trump-hater followers could doxx these soldiers and try to do them harm. Miss Jennifer Epstein needs to be banned from all future trips with the President.

Honestly Riley if you think about it, this is one of the most despicable things the media has done in the past 4 years. And that’s saying something.

It’s not enough to attack the President, attack his wife, attack his ex wives, attack his lawyers, attack his friends, attack his children…. now they’re trying to snitch out female members of the army who happen to support their boss.

Lets never say we haven’t seen evil walking the earth, because we’re watching it right now. These people are sub-human.

POTUS and First Lady sure know how to turn the lyin media spin, while the Dems stumble all over themselves finding a pathway to adding his autographing ‘red hats’ to their fictitious list of “high crimes and misdemeanors” to be presented to the Congress January 3rd, 2019.
Give me a Break!!!

“while the Dems stumble all over themselves finding a pathway to adding his autographing ‘red hats’ to their fictitious list of “high crimes and misdemeanors””

I can think of about 40+ dem congresscritters that should be rounded up for real crimes relating to the Anwan scandal. Speaker Ryan should have had them expelled, too – but that is another sad chapter in politics for the 2010-2019 decade.

LMAO !!—>Wasn’t the Democrat talking points all day yesterday : Trump has never visited the Troops that are in a Combat Zone ?
~Remember when Hildabeast Clinton said : “We had to duck and run due to all the “Sniper” Fire–>Zip, Zip, Ping, Ping.~ 🙂

I am Australian and I am on the Trump train. I never miss a beat. Every day my heart swells with pride. I asked Catallaxy Files to add The Last Refuge to their list of recommended sites. They said they would.

Love Australia^ literally just got back, had the pleasure of spending a lot of time all over Sydney, Melbs and other areas. Have family and friends there, such an amazing place, minus the airports. 🙂 Best food I’ve ever had, and woke up every day to my morning view of the Opera House and Harbour bridge.

I’m militarily ignorant so someone will be able to tell me why the US runs large USAF bases in Germany and England and Italy? All within spitting distance. To my limited commercial mind that’s duplication.

Having multiple bases in Europe made a considerable amount of strategic sense when the Soviets would be able to come through the Fulda Gap with armor and short range missiles. And, for aircraft with shorter ‘legs’, no need to deploy vulnerable air-to-air refueling resources.

If you have a mind for analysis, Reality, you might try collecting information on what is taught as standard, baseline, operating knowledge a graduate of West Point is supposed to possess. The basic stuff is common to all branches, all large corporations, and the nuts and bolts support structures of all cities,counties, states, and Fed agencies.

Then set yourself the task of implementing the deployment of our military in Europe, circa post WWII for purposes of stabilizing the geopolitical situation, especially with regard to containing Soviet aggression. Be sure to check your aspirin supply and take frequent cold showers to cool your overheated brain.

Or try assuming there are good reasons those bases were established, initially. Construct a timeline of establishment. Look for evolving mission changes. Realize that all of Europe is within “spitting distance” of all of Europe. Set some scrambling senarios. Remember the institutional chaos left by the German occupation. Check your aspirin supply, etc.

………………….

We are all pretty ignorant of the organic development of the outcomes with which our country now contends and participated in.
So don’t feel bad personally for your ignorance, we all suffer from it. I have been struggling to minimze mine since 1962, when I left the military, and I make no claims of exraordinary succcess.

But I love being an American and I am proud to be from a family which has participated from our founding in what that means.

Right….alas, the days of the USSR as a Communist expansionist threat to Europe and the world are over. Now Russia is a sort of crony oligarchy, an elite mafia state with a GDP of around Spain’s (hard to believe that).
No doubt there was sufficient reason for the massive number of US bases in Europe during the Cold war. “Was” being the operative word.
Military living in the past is a clear and present danger to the US taxpayer. The US military is being funded by deficit spending.
‘The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire’ is salutary. But no-one reads any more.

Tell me, does your passive aggression stem from knowing deeply, at your resistant core, that unless the US ceases all but vital overseas imperial military reach, our military will absolutely, certainly bankrupt the nation? Do you have any, even minimal, understanding of the eventual consequences of a $22 trillion Federal debt on the $US?

Is your aspirin handy?
‘ephemeral: lasting for a very short time’.
You do see the obvious connection with PDJT’s genuine campaign promises re the Wall and how they lasted a very short time, don’t you?
Year 2, a trivial amount of Wall exists. QED.

Some eras back, the “Happy Warrior” was New York State’s Democrat Governor and 1928 Presidential candidate Al Smith, 1873 – 1944. As of June 2015, that cheerful, generous title has found a most worthy successor.

“This is the happy Warrior; this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be:
… who, if he be called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human kind,
Is happy as a Lover; and attired
With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw …”

Wordsworth, 1806 – “keep(ing) the law” is both a sacred and a secular concern.

You won’t see this on CNN. I work at a place called Aberdeen Proving Ground. The Burger King on the installation only runs CNN all day long and at a loud volume. Every time I eat there I wind up getting indigestion and saluting with my middle finger as I rush out the door. I once complained to the BK staff and they informed me that the Senior Commander ordered it. Fortunately, there’s another BK a couple of miles down the road in Aberdeen.

I went there as a kid for an open-house to the public, late 50s or so.

They put on exhibitions for the folks sitting in bleachers, the coolest one to me was a tank traversing left to right along a field a football-field’s length at a pretty good clip and firing its main gun downrange perpendicular to its traverse direction at targets and knocking them down pretty consistently.

I still remember an open-house that I went to at about that age. Maybe a year/so older.
The difference was that Dad was a retired AF bird Colonel, and was provided VIP passes for us, to go to Edwards AFB. It was pretty awesome to walk around the sole remaining XB-70 Valkyrie, some X-series a/c (some of which Dad had been involved with during second tour at HQAF) – as well as a number of then-contemporary active a/c. As I recall, there was also a B-58 Hustler on the flight line.

I, too, remember those “open house” days at Edwards AFB, CA… The early ones were awesome beyond belief… (I learned to fly at Santa Paula, CA – 1959/1966) It seemed like they just ‘opened the hangers’ and shoved everything out on the line back then… They actually flew the RB-70 at one I remember!… and, at a later one, the SR-71 / YB-12 … dripping and stinking all the way to the runway end…Seeing the Sled fly was just down right unbelievable!…
I can still remember driving up the night before…parking in the long line in front of the gate house and swapping stories with other folks there in line…most years they let us in about 8 AM and we got the close-in (behind the hangers) parking…just walk thru to the flight line area. Chuck Yager was there many years and Bob Hoover walked around in his straw hat as well… 51D was with him…
ANYONE with a love for flight, needs to see the SAC museum over in Nebraska – right along I-70, about 15 mi west of Omaha (of course)…watch for the signs! Check-6

Here is the part of the President’s speech to the service members in Iraq that is not well reported:
“It’s time to get our young people out,” Trump said. “And I’ve been signing plenty of letters and I don’t like sending those letters home to parents saying that your young man or your young woman has been killed.” “I don’t like doing it. We’ve been doing it long enough.”

In my opinion, when your spending time and resources defending US soldiers from “green on blue” attacks, it’s time to come home.

Hmmmm. Seems relevant to post this article again. At least one leading voice in the argument to leave Syria came from the head of the US European Command. Getting a face-to-face with some like minded generals? Job interview? (“You can’t come here. I’ll come to you.”)

This part I found… eye opening:D. Extremist Ideologies
1. Introduction
• As noted, an ideology is a set of political beliefs about the nature of people and society. People who are committed to an ideology seek not only to persuade but to recruit others to their belief. In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.

• While not all ideologists are violent in nature, it is characteristic of ideology to be action-oriented and to regard action in terms of a military analogy. How often have you heard words such as struggle, resist, march, victory, and overcome when reading about or talking to ideologists about their beliefs?

2. Ideologies
a. Nationalism – The policy of asserting that the interests of one’s own nation are separate from the interests of other nations or the common interest of all nations. Many nationalist groups take it a step further and believe that their national culture and interests are superior to any other national group.”

MORELESSON EMPHASIS
This lesson will focus on awareness and current issues requiring the attention of future Equal Opportunity Advisors. It will also provide information that describes sources of extremism information, definitions, recruitment of DoD personnel, common themes in extremist ideologies, common characteristics of extremist organizations, DoD policies, and command functions regarding extremist activities. ……

The following references are additional sources for current extremism information:
• Anti-Defamation League – http://www.adl.org [The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people ]

C. Extremists Traits
1. What type of person belongs to an extremist group or follows an extremist ideology? The terms extremism or extremist are almost always applied by others to a group rather than by a group labeling itself. People within an extremist group will deny that they practice or advocate violence; instead they would more likely call themselves political radicals.

2. According to George and Wilcox, there are a number of specific traits or behaviors that tend to represent the extremist style. As a caution, we are all fallible human beings, and some of us may resort to these behaviors from time to time without bad intentions. With extremists, these lapses are not occasional; rather, they are habitual and a strongly established part of an extremist’s character.

a. Character assassination
Extremists often attack the character of an opponent rather than deal with the facts or issues raised. They will question motives, qualifications, past associations, alleged values, personality, looks, and mental health as a diversion from the issues under consideration.

b. Name calling and labeling
Extremists are quick to resort to taunts (e.g., pervert, racist, and crackpot) to label and condemn opponents and to divert others from listening to their arguments.

c. Irresponsive sweeping generalizations
Extremists tend to make sweeping claims or judgments with little to no evidence, often confusing similarity with sameness. That is, they assume that because two or more things are alike in some respects that they are alike in all respects.

d. Inadequate proof behind assertions
Extremists tend to be very fuzzy about what constitutes proof for their assertions and tend to get caught up in logical fallacies where they assume that a prior event explains a subsequent occurrence simply because of their before-and-after relationship. They tend to project wished-for conclusions and exaggerate the significance of information that confirms their prejudices and discredit or ignore information that contradicts them.

e. Tendency to view opponents and critics as essentially evil
Extremists feel that their opponents hold differing views because they are bad, immoral, dishonest, hateful, cruel, prejudiced, etc. and not merely because they simply disagree, see matters differently, or are mistaken.

f. Dualism worldview
Extremists tend to see the world in terms of absolute good and evil, for them or against them, with no middle ground or intermediate position. All issues are ultimately moral issues of right and wrong, good or bad, with the right and good positions coinciding with their interests. Their slogan is often “Those who are not with me are against me.”

g. Tendency to argue by intimidation
Extremists tend to frame their arguments in such a way as to intimidate others into accepting their premises and conclusions. To disagree with them is to ally oneself with the devil or to give aid and comfort to the enemy. They tend to be very judgmental and moralizing, allowing them to define the parameters of the debate by keeping their opponents on the defensive.

h. Use of slogans, buzzwords, and thought-stopping clichés
For many extremists, shortcuts in thinking and in reasoning matters out seem necessary to avoid troublesome facts and compelling counterarguments. Simple slogans substitute for more complex abstractions.

i. Assumption of moral superiority over others
The most obvious assumptions are claims of racial or ethnic superiority—a master race. Less obvious are claims of ennoblement because of alleged victimhood, a special relationship with God, or membership in a special or elite class and a kind of aloof high-minded snobbishness that accrues because of the weightiness of their preoccupations, their altruism, and their willingness to sacrifice themselves (and others) to their cause.

j. Doomsday thinking
Extremists often predict dire or catastrophic consequences from a situation or from a failure to follow a specific course, and they tend to exhibit a kind of crisis- mindedness. It can be a Communist takeover, a Nazi revival, nuclear war, earthquakes, floods, or the wrath of God. Whatever it is, it is just around the corner unless we follow their program and listen to their special insight and wisdom, to which only the truly enlightened have access. For extremists, any setback or defeat is the beginning of the end.

k. Belief that it’s okay to do bad things in the service of a “good” cause
Extremists may deliberately lie or otherwise distort, misquote, slander, defame, or libel their opponents and/or critics; engage in censorship or repression; or undertake violence in special cases. This is done with little or no remorse as long as it is in the service of defeating the Communists, Fascists, or whomever. Defeating an enemy becomes an all-encompassing goal to which other values are subordinate. With extremists, the end justifies the means.[…]”

Broseph, the equation you are working from is the post WW2 new world order that has become the FP plaything for the establishment elites in the EU and America. There are many tentacles and agendas but none actually benefit the average American overrun by illegals, refugees and sliding from the middle class the last 20 years.

The GCC has a pretty good coalition because there are now ME players who are looking past oil and to do that must eradicate terrorism and reform Islam. How they do this will not look like how we would do it. Neither do the Kurds. And there is the rub for us being involved with many boots on the ground. The ME, sans Israel, does not have our values or our laws. It’s Chinatown, Jake. So far, none of the countries we have spilled blood in have Taken democracy seriously. We went into Afghanistan when my daughter was born and she has turned 18. To what end? Usually, at this point, our military has turned into a bureaucratic quagmire onthe ground. Policing. It’s untenable. But they can police our borders. I am shocked at how many people do not know that.

The EU and establishment elites here have a stake in mass refugee resettlement and arms dealing to create chaos. It’s easier to control people in that venue. And they have done a great job with it so far.

I don’t really have a problem with bases in Germany for the simple fact that Germany is now in bed with Putin, big time. Eventually they will be totally dependent on Russia for heat. Merkle was, Schroeder was and Hillary with Putin’s oligharchs. If anything, we have better access to information for Eastern Europe’s sake. But I suspect they had best pay their NATO bills, in any event.

What’s happening is good —Even though you are going to hear horrendous news coming from that area. It’s a new paradigm. And it won’t be perfect but it’s common sense. Let the ME sort it out. We have Israel’s back.

We get nothing from Europe. If we didn’t subsidize their defense the EU wouldn’t even exist. Europeans think we’re trash. They look down on us and mock us whenever they get the chance. I know that’s not a strategic factor, but shouldn’t that count for something? They are playing us like fools. We have more in common with Japan or South Korea than these morons. The Kurds actually admired us and were trying to copy us. Why now with the Kurds? No consistency. Trust me. I’m for Trump’s domestic agenda, but this was not necessary to do!

Broseph McGee says:
“We left the Kurds, but we’re stilling protecting Europeans. Something is wrong with that equation.”
____________________________________
We do not have to be in Syria to protect the Kurds. Saudis are there Israel is thee the Russians are there and we are not far away in emergency. We do not want to rebuild Syria and Syria and the Middle East needs to learn to protect each other than all the years of fighting.
Europe was build by US and it is in our interest for us to be in Europe.

Then we should just get out of Afghanistan now. I’m in favor of that. We should certainly leave Europe. How about some consistency. The Kurds were the only people in the middle east besides Israel that took a cue from us and reformed. I’m not buying the selective non-intervention. We either stick by the good guys or countries that have don’t have the same values as us; Germany, Eastern Europe, and Afghanistan… pay and die for their own defense!